[toby23]

After going round in circles for the last couple of years, I am now back where I started with Spotify Premium, my Oppo HA-2 DAC and a set of Oppo PM-3 headphones..

I run Spotify through ASIO Bridge at the moment into the DAC.

Is this the best quality that I am going to get out of Spotify or is there something that I can change in the chain to make it sound even better?

Tidal is not an option at the moment due to the extra cost, as I already have Spotify Family.

Thanks for your help.
Toby

 

[AudioThief]

I recently downloaded fidelify and found it to greatly increase my listening pleasure, offering more depth to the recordings. Try it out and say what you think of it.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Is this the best quality that I am going to get out of Spotify or is there something that I can change in the chain to make it sound even better?

Check Spotify settings and put it on the maximum quality they have for streaming and downloads. Not much else you can do past that. I use Spotify mostly for pop music I can't blow money on buying the CDs or FLAC copies (since I already blow enough money on metal CDs).

Maybe install a global EQ app like Equalizer APO on Windows or Neutralizer on Android. Just note that EQ APO is more of a pro tool where you have to put in the adjustments based on educated guesses from at least one or two different measurements of your headphones and trim the peaks, while Neutralizer runs a test tone and then you adjust the gain on each frequency (they affect a wider range than just that center freq). Similar bit - just trim the peaks first, but for Neutralizer since your own hearing is involved, don't cut too much at 1000hz and 2000hz to match everything else since human hearing has a bias in those frequencies, not to mention sensitivity measurements are at 1000hz. If it's painfully loud on the test tone at those frequencies, trim a little then boost the other freqs.

 

[toby23]

Thanks for your advice.

I have tried Fidelify and enjoy the sound but the UI only shows my playlists, not my albums.

I have played around a lot with different EQ programmes only to discover that I prefer no EQ while listening to music.
I have also tried JRiver and JPlay but ASIO Bridge seems to be the only application with an ASIO connection that allows audio to play from other sources at the same time without having to change source in a menu.
I need this functionality as I need to able to hear audio from other programmes while playing music in the background.

I enjoy the sound of Roon but have not found any information on workarounds to get it working with Spotify.
What I am looking for is Roon with support for Spotify. Does that kind of thing exist?

 

[blue212]

Try SonarWorks TrueFi — I’m really enjoying it

https://www.sonarworks.com/truefi

 

[toby23]

What I would really like to know is if it is worth investing in something like JRiver solely for streaming Spotify or if I can get exactly the same sound quality using ASIO bridge, assuming an ASIO connection on both?

I am not sure if I can hear a difference between the two or if it is just my imagination but JRiver sounds clearer and I enjoy the DSP Environment > Recording Studio setting.

Thanks for the tip with Sonarworks, I just tried that but did not like what it did to the sound at all and very unnatural sounding to my ears.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I have tried Fidelify and enjoy the sound but the UI only shows my playlists, not my albums.

I have played around a lot with different EQ programmes only to discover that I prefer no EQ while listening to music.
I have also tried JRiver and JPlay but ASIO Bridge seems to be the only application with an ASIO connection that allows audio to play from other sources at the same time without having to change source in a menu.
I need this functionality as I need to able to hear audio from other programmes while playing music in the background.

I enjoy the sound of Roon but have not found any information on workarounds to get it working with Spotify.

That's why I suggested a global EQ app like Equalizer APO (Windows) or Neutralizer (Android). It just works on the background. You don't have to run Spotify through that program, it just applies the EQ correction profiles to every sound source running on the same OS.

Doesn't matter if it's YouTube, Spotify, Tidal, a music player app running local content be it audio or vide, games whatever - as long as it's running on Windows all sound coming from that Windows OS will be altered by Equalizer APO.

Same way with Neutralizer on Android, which works similarly to Samsung's Adapt Sound (just with more control) and other features like Tube Amp and Surround Simulator. I use Neutralizer (plus Tube Amp simulator) on my Android to correct the strong lower treble-upper midrange response of my IEMs, and while I primarily use Spotify on it, it works on local content plus games and streaming apps.

 

[koover]

Equality is an EQ app specifically developed for Spotify. It’s out of the UK. I believe there’s a 1 time cost of around $25 or a free version to try. I liked it a lot and decided to pay a 1 time and you don’t have to re-up your subscription.
It downloads right into Spotify’s interface and the tweeks are endless. It’s really worth a go and believe you’d like it, cause I do.
https://equalify.en.uptodown.com/windows

 

[toby23]

That's why I suggested a global EQ app like Equalizer APO (Windows) or Neutralizer (Android). It just works on the background. You don't have to run Spotify through that program, it just applies the EQ correction profiles to every sound source running on the same OS.

Thanks for suggesting Equalizer APO.
Spotify has never sounded so good.

 

[rutter]

So does Equalizer APO do the same thing Sonarworks does for free? Anyone tried both?

 

[Adide]

Check Spotify settings and put it on the maximum quality they have for streaming and downloads. Not much else you can do past that. I use Spotify mostly for pop music I can't blow money on buying the CDs or FLAC copies (since I already blow enough money on metal CDs).

Maybe install a global EQ app like Equalizer APO on Windows or Neutralizer on Android. Just note that EQ APO is more of a pro tool where you have to put in the adjustments based on educated guesses from at least one or two different measurements of your headphones and trim the peaks, while Neutralizer runs a test tone and then you adjust the gain on each frequency (they affect a wider range than just that center freq). Similar bit - just trim the peaks first, but for Neutralizer since your own hearing is involved, don't cut too much at 1000hz and 2000hz to match everything else since human hearing has a bias in those frequencies, not to mention sensitivity measurements are at 1000hz. If it's painfully loud on the test tone at those frequencies, trim a little then boost the other freqs.

Hi there, sorry for bringing up an older thread but this might still interest someone.
I'm on LG V30 with Oreo, this phone has two DAC chips (one regular Qualcomm and one audiophile quality quad-core ESS Sabre) and an integrated hifi amp.

I've have tried it with Tidal app and don't seem to have an effect on tonality but it did something to the gain as it lowered the volume a bit.
Streaming Tidal through UAPP Tidal plugin (so not through the native app) - it doesn't do anything at all, zero effect (playing Tidal through UAPP is the preferred method as it brings a number of improvements related to the hifi DAC and bit perfect operation but this method uses a third party audio driver and not the native Android one).

On the other hand, Neutralizer works as intended with Youtube.

Maybe the presence of two DACs is making Neutralizer having a hard time in this case.

Cheers.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hi there, sorry for bringing up an older thread but this might still interest someone.
I'm on LG V30 with Oreo, this phone has two DAC chips (one regular Qualcomm and one audiophile quality quad-core ESS Sabre) and an integrated hifi amp.

I've have tried it with Tidal app and don't seem to have an effect on tonality but it did something to the gain as it lowered the volume a bit.
Streaming Tidal through UAPP Tidal plugin (so not through the native app) - it doesn't do anything at all, zero effect (playing Tidal through UAPP is the preferred method as it brings a number of improvements related to the hifi DAC and bit perfect operation but this method uses a third party audio driver and not the native Android one).

On the other hand, Neutralizer works as intended with Youtube.

Maybe the presence of two DACs is making Neutralizer having a hard time in this case.

It's most likely some kind of software bug. Report it to UAPP. It can't be a matter of having two DACs since those two DACs can't work together in the first place, ie, once one DAC does its job of taking the Digital signal and Converted it to Analogue, the other DAC can't have any effect on it any more since it isn't digital. When multiple DACs are implemented they're the same chips in different configurations, like parallel (one per each channel) or in "series" (basically making them all work like ECC RAM and server processors; modern DAC chips do not need to operate like that anymore). Even if LG uses a Snapdragon controller what they have to do is disable it, either completely or run it only as DSP as that is a function embedded into the Snapdragon audio chips, if not order the Snapdragon chipset without the audio chips. Think of how you can get an Intel CPU and the HDxxx chip doesn't run (except if you configure it to run a second display) once your motherboard detects a graphics card.

 

[Adide]

It's most likely some kind of software bug. Report it to UAPP. It can't be a matter of having two DACs since those two DACs can't work together in the first place, ie, once one DAC does its job of taking the Digital signal and Converted it to Analogue, the other DAC can't have any effect on it any more since it isn't digital. When multiple DACs are implemented they're the same chips in different configurations, like parallel (one per each channel) or in "series" (basically making them all work like ECC RAM and server processors; modern DAC chips do not need to operate like that anymore). Even if LG uses a Snapdragon controller what they have to do is disable it, either completely or run it only as DSP as that is a function embedded into the Snapdragon audio chips, if not order the Snapdragon chipset without the audio chips. Think of how you can get an Intel CPU and the HDxxx chip doesn't run (except if you configure it to run a second display) once your motherboard detects a graphics card.

So have you actually ran Tidal with Neutralizer successfully on your gear?
Like I've said, on LG V30 (with two DACs) even through Tidal native app Neutralizer only lowers the volume output without affecting tonality.

Seems to me more like a Neutralizer lack of support for dual DAC phones rather than an UAPP bug.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

So have you actually ran Tidal with Neutralizer successfully on your gear?

No, because I use either locally stored FLAC or Spotify. And this thread was primarily for Spotify.

Like I've said, on LG V30 (with two DACs) even through Tidal native app Neutralizer only lowers the volume output without affecting tonality.

Seems to me more like a Neutralizer lack of support for dual DAC phones rather than an UAPP bug.

And like I said, it's a software bug somewhere other than the Snapdragon chipset having its own DSP-DAC-headphone driver chip and the LG Quad DAC in there, because if LG did not even disable the Snapdragon audiochip - if at least just to run it as a DSP - then you can't even have the phone running both DACs on anything other than LG's dedicated player since that player would, if they were doing things wrong, would pick the Quad DAC system while every other app would run into a confused mess not knowing where to send the signal. This isn't like a car where the gasoline engine and electric motor work seamlessly together - two separate DACs can't work simultaneously at all. That's like having a soundcard and hooking up something to the motherboard via the audio ports or USB. Even in that case you need to manually tell Windows which one to use, assuming the drivers for motherboard audio and the soundcard don't start screwing with the system when installed together.

If it's a bug due to the Snapdragon chip it's not because it's running as a DAC but some kind of error with its DSP, although I have no problems with Snapdragon Samsungs running the

 

[Centropolis]

Just curious if any of you are having issues with your Spotify streams (both online and downloaded contents), have ticking/crackling sounds while playing the music. I am premium, highest quality stream, no anti-virus running....still having issues. Both on a Windows machine and a Linux machine. My iPhone Spotify streams fine without any crackling, pops sounds.